On The Rodeo Road

Ashley Whyland was a WPRA member from 2004-2006. Ashley and her horse Native Money, aka “Luther” traveled to many rodeos throughout the Great Lakes Circuit. Ashley will be making “guest appearances” for On The Rodeo Road to share stories and experiences while out rodeoing. Today she is talking to us about her first WPRA rodeo experience…………………

Ashley Whyland on Luther

I wanted to rodeo.  That’s all I knew.  My horse, Luther, had been on fire at home and I thought there was only one thing left to do, buy my WPRA permit and hit the road.  Of course, the wintertime in the Great Lakes circuit is not the best time to decide to “haul hard”.  Rodeos are few and far between, but if there is one, it’s going to be in an arena the size of a basketball court and probably have been used for ice hockey the week before.  Sound like the prime spot for a rodeo rookie?  Of course not!  I entered Evansville, IN because it was close to home.  Good place to get my feet wet, right?  I was talking to my circuit director the week before the rodeo and she ask me where I thought I would enter for my first rodeo.  I told her Evansville.  Her reply, “Oh gosh…”  She explained that it was a tiny arena and not the best place to start out!  So to say that I arrived at Evansville calm and collected would be a total lie.  I was a mess! 

I purposely entered myself in the slack, because I had no idea how Luther would take the atmosphere.  I still had to get him ready and warm up with all the other girls during intermission.  As I was waiting aboard my horse to enter the arena I looked over and saw what I felt like was a mirror image of myself, Whiplash the cowboy monkey atop his trusty steed.  As I looked down, Whiplash looked up at me, grabbed his horn (a metal bar) and shook his saddle as if to check the tightness.  I couldn’t help but to bust out laughing. 

Once we got into the arena I studied my angle to the first barrel, because I knew it would be tricky in such a tiny pen.  Luther stayed really calm and focused during our warm-up so I knew he would be ok with all the commotion during my run. 

After we exited the arena the girls in the performance got ready to run.  I got off and uncinched my horse and waited.  There were some phenomenal runs, which only made my tension greater! 

After what took about 45 minutes to finish up the rodeo and get the pen ready for the barrel racing again, it was my time to run.  I got Luther ready and mounted up.  They yelled out my name and I pushed my horse forward only to find him stopped dead in his tracks, he wasn’t going to move.  I looked up in desperation.  I knew in rodeo you had to get your horse up there and go.  They don’t mess around before they move on to the next girl.  I was then approached by the girl that was so far winning the rodeo and she helped walk me down the tunnel.  As Luther took off I heard someone over head yell, “Go on girl”, which made me kick even harder. 

Luther came in and inhaled the first barrel.  I then confirmed with myself that I WAS Whiplash the COWGIRL monkey.  He left the first barrel so hard, I was grabbing leather to get back up before he set for the second barrel and before I knew it we were heading home from the third barrel.  It felt like I was taking my whole run to get caught up!  I was able to get a couple of kicks in before we crossed the timer and my time was good for 4^th place so far!!!

I was congratulated by many girls on my way out.  I was on cloud nine!  Luther got a couple treats and his legs wrapped up for the ride home.  I gathered my things and my horse and headed to the trailer.  While packing my things I was approached by a sweet little girl asking for my autograph.  Not only did my run make me happy, but the fact that I was being approached for my autograph!  How cool is that!?  J

The next day I jumped online to read my email to find a message from a 7 time Great Lakes Circuit barrel racer that I hardly knew.  She told me what a nice run I had at Evansville, how I really should hit the road and what a nice horse I had.  This, of course, made me so happy!  And with that little message, I picked up the phone and entered my next one, Rockford, IL…….